Revel M55XC Outdoor Speaker Review

[seedragon]

I do get a very good atmos experience with them and am very happy. Am crossing them at 100hz and they are pretty close to the ceiling. My room is around 14x23 with 8ft ceilings in a basement. If you want to cross them around 80hz I would go for the m80xc for sure.
Edit: I should add 2 things: 1)I suspected I would have to cross them at 100-120 and was ok with that for height affect speakers. 2) I was surprised after Audyssey calibration it set them at 80hz (which I raised to 100).

Cool, that is good to know, thanks for the feedback. I asked my dealer for a quote for both models to see what the difference is. Hopefully, the M80XC is within reach.

 

[Dj7675]

Cool, that is good to know, thanks for the feedback. I asked my dealer for a quote for both models to see what the difference is. Hopefully, the M80XC is within reach.

I don't know if Revel still is offering both these models at special prices to dealers or not, but when I got mine they were. Hopefully your dealer will come back with something good for you. I should add that if I had a higher ceiling/more room I would have gone for the larger m80xc as well. But the M50xc is a great little speaker.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

@Dj7675 Do they sound much different with the grill on? I wonder if removing the grill contributed to the poor measurements.

 

[Dj7675]

@Dj7675 Do they sound much different with the grill on? I wonder if removing the grill contributed to the poor measurements.

Never listened to them with the grills on. I did measure one with the grill and it does affect things quite a bit as you would expect from a metal grill for an outdoor speaker. Since the speaker was designed for on wall installation measurements do improve quite a bit when mounted on wall. This is also noted in listening tests by Amir when he moved them back towards the wall. What is interesting about this speaker is how good it is with EQ (with a sub of course). So within the context of what it was designed for the measurements show a speaker with great directivity and when placed on the wall measure pretty well. See below of an rta measurement of one in its front wide position which is pretty darn good (no eq). Measurements at first glance look pretty poor but installed on wall, makes a nice little speaker.

 

[DonH56]

I went with the M80XC's for my heights, also mounted down from the ceiling to clear my suspended ceiling panels, and am happy with them. I was nervous about the more limited bass response from the M55XC's and at the time got a good deal on the M80XC's.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

A lot better than in-ceiling at least

 

[Dj7675]

A lot better than in-ceiling at least

Very true. When I was deciding on in ceiling to on ceiling speakers for Atmos, it seemed like a better idea to try to get a good speaker and aim it at the listeners vs an in ceiling model. I like the results.

 

[CatDad]

Very true. When I was deciding on in ceiling to on ceiling speakers for Atmos, it seemed like a better idea to try to get a good speaker and aim it at the listeners vs an in ceiling model. I like the results.

I went with the M80XC's for my heights, also mounted down from the ceiling to clear my suspended ceiling panels, and am happy with them. I was nervous about the more limited bass response from the M55XC's and at the time got a good deal on the M80XC's.

Hey guys I'm also most likely going to go with M80xcs for ATMOS duties with a Revel F208, C208, and M106 setup. Did you guys use the hardware that came with these for mounting on the ceiling? Do you need any other hardware to mount them? I was reading around and it sounded like some Revel users were using some type of different JBL bracket for hanging them. Also, what should I be considering when deciding if the M80cx is too large? I can go with M55xcs or the M80s but I hear a lot of people talk about the M80s being too large for their ceiling. Thanks!

 

[DonH56]

Hey guys I'm also most likely going to go with M80xcs for ATMOS duties with a Revel F208, C208, and M106 setup. Did you guys use the hardware that came with these for mounting on the ceiling? Do you need any other hardware to mount them? I was reading around and it sounded like some Revel users were using some type of different JBL bracket for hanging them. Also, what should I be considering when deciding if the M80cx is too large? I can go with M55xcs or the M80s but I hear a lot of people talk about the M80s being too large for their ceiling. Thanks!

My room is fairly small with a 8.5' ceiling and debated between M55XC and M80XC. The M80XC's are less obtrusive than I expected. I wanted their lower bass response, so after mocking them up with a box the same size as the speakers, they seemed to be OK so I decided to go for it. They come with a short ball mount (InvisiBall) that is designed mainly for walls, I think. Mine needed to extend below my ceiling panels so required a longer drop. I bought some fairly cheap Pyle ceiling brackets and mounted the stock ball mounts to them. However, JBL makes a number of extended-stem ball mounts for ceiling mounting, so that would be my first choice. (When I made my plans I wanted to retain all my ceiling panels, requiring a much longer drop, but of course the speaker positions for Atmos were smack-dab in the middle of a couple of panels. I removed them and thus could have used the extended JBL mounts.) You'd need to double-check with a dealer to get the right ball size.

There are pictures of my system on ASR in one of the "about your system" threads.

HTH - Don

 

[CatDad]

My room is fairly small with a 8.5' ceiling and debated between M55XC and M80XC. The M80XC's are less obtrusive than I expected. I wanted their lower bass response, so after mocking them up with a box the same size as the speakers, they seemed to be OK so I decided to go for it. They come with a short ball mount (InvisiBall) that is designed mainly for walls, I think. Mine needed to extend below my ceiling panels so required a longer drop. I bought some fairly cheap Pyle ceiling brackets and mounted the stock ball mounts to them. However, JBL makes a number of extended-stem ball mounts for ceiling mounting, so that would be my first choice. (When I made my plans I wanted to retain all my ceiling panels, requiring a much longer drop, but of course the speaker positions for Atmos were smack-dab in the middle of a couple of panels. I removed them and thus could have used the extended JBL mounts.) You'd need to double-check with a dealer to get the right ball size.

There are pictures of my system on ASR in one of the "about your system" threads.

HTH - Don

Thank you, Don! I ordered 4 of the M55xc instead because I was worried about the 80 being a bit too big for our smaller room. I've had similar sizes to the 55s in here and they worked great. It sounds like even with the 55s I will need to get a different bracket from JBL so I can hang them on my ceiling or will I be fine with the hardware for the 55s? Thanks !

 

[DonH56]

Thank you, Don! I ordered 4 of the M55xc instead because I was worried about the 80 being a bit too big for our smaller room. I've had similar sizes to the 55s in here and they worked great. It sounds like even with the 55s I will need to get a different bracket from JBL so I can hang them on my ceiling or will I be fine with the hardware for the 55s? Thanks !

Re. the bracket -- I do not know. I already had the Pyle brackets mounted so never tried ceiling-mounting using the stock brackets. I am sure it depends upon their angle as well; mine are at maybe 45 degrees. Given you've ordered them already, you can pull one out and mount the ball and bracket and do a dry run to see if that's all you need. At least the M55XC's will be a little smaller and lighter to hold up to the ceiling!

 

[CatDad]

Re. the bracket -- I do not know. I already had the Pyle brackets mounted so never tried ceiling-mounting using the stock brackets. I am sure it depends upon their angle as well; mine are at maybe 45 degrees. Given you've ordered them already, you can pull one out and mount the ball and bracket and do a dry run to see if that's all you need. At least the M55XC's will be a little smaller and lighter to hold up to the ceiling!

Thanks, Don! Will do

 

[Dj7675]

@flipflop I was looking at your eq settings used on the speaker tool made by @pierre. I couldn't see anywhere the affect on the preference rating. What would be the preference rating with your EQ?

 

[pierre]

@flipflop I was looking at your eq settings used on the speaker tool made by @pierre. I couldn't see anywhere the affect on the preference rating. What would be the preference rating with your EQ?

You will find it here https://pierreaubert.github.io/spinorama/scores.html

 

[Dj7675]

You will find it here https://pierreaubert.github.io/spinorama/scores.html

Appreciate it. Amazing work on your Spinorama Collection tool. Very cool and useful.

 

[Richard Berg]

If your mounting setup can tolerate a rear port, the JBL Stage A130 seems like a better choice, no? Takes EQ just as well, equally controlled directivity (slightly wider horiz but narrower vertical), better extension, WAY lower distortion. And cheaper.

 

[nathan]

Very different use case but yes the A130 is an excellent speaker value.

So yes if you don't need a ball mount, or weather sealing and ruggedness, or on wall mounting, and you can leave open space behind the speaker, there are alternatives and the A130 is one of them.

 

[Dj7675]

If your mounting setup can tolerate a rear port, the JBL Stage A130 seems like a better choice, no? Takes EQ just as well, equally controlled directivity (slightly wider horiz but narrower vertical), better extension, WAY lower distortion. And cheaper.

All true for sure. But the having a clever mounting system makes ceiling mounting these or the M80XCs possible is what makes them useful. I much prefer an atmos speaker that is a good speaker to be able to point it at the listeners which this accomplishes pretty well. The JBL Control X would be another really good option it looks like as well.

 

[Chromatischism]

All true for sure. But the having a clever mounting system makes ceiling mounting these or the M80XCs possible is what makes them useful. I much prefer an atmos speaker that is a good speaker to be able to point it at the listeners which this accomplishes pretty well. The JBL Control X would be another really good option it looks like as well.

But can you actually use the ball mount for the ceiling? I think you'd have to turn the speaker sideways but then you compromise on directivity.

 

[DonH56]

But can you actually use the ball mount for the ceiling? I think you'd have to turn the speaker sideways but then you compromise on directivity.

Mine are ceiling mounted and oriented normally (vertically). I did purchase an additional extension from a third party, but later found Revel/JBL offers longer mounts for ceiling use. The InvisiBall system is pretty cool.